A 71-year-old Tucson man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after federal authorities say he planned to meet a minor for sex.
Beginning in February 2023, John Stephen Baker had been communicating with an undercover Homeland Security agent he thought was a 14-year-old girl, the US Attorney's Office in Arizona said in a news release.
Three months later, Baker went to Sahuarita "with the intent to engage in illicit sexual activity with the person he believed to be an underage female," the release said. He later pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity.
On Sept. 10, US District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps sentenced Baker to 8.5 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervision.
The case was part of a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse that was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Go to www.justice.gov/psc for more information about Project Safe Childhood.
